Yomi Inaba
by iLULALOT
Summary: 2 Years after the murder case and everyone has moved on. Only few members of the group remain, but when people start disappearing again after a new girl arrives at Yasogami, will the team have to reunite? CHAPTER 3 POSTED.
1. Who wants flowers when you're dead?

Yomi – Inaba

NAOTO'S POV  
(I know that the titles of my chapters are songs)

Chapter One: Who wants flowers when you're dead?

Certainly not Grandpa, he always said to me:

"When my time comes, don't dwell on it. I don't want you moping around after me. I want no ceremony, no flowers, just a place for me to rest. That will make me happy."

But I'd feel ungrateful if I didn't do anything. Grandpa gave me love and somewhere to live. He was more like my father than my Grandfather. After my parents died he took me in- no ifs, no buts. I miss him so much. The worst thing about it is that I'm still in high school and I have no family left. The closest thing I have to family is Yakushiji-san, my Grandfather's secretary. It gets so lonely in the big empty house, with only housekeepers and such to keep me company. I need to get over his death and get on with my life. I want to just sort everything out. I have to get over my grudge against Izzy and focus on my studies. I need to stop looking into everything like it's going to lead to some kind of mystery and just live.

"Good Morning, 3rd Years. I'd like to introduce a new student to you all. This is Hitomi Iwata, she just moved here from Tatsumi Port Island." said Miss Kanoh, in her nervous little voice.

I must've been daydreaming, that's what happens when I get too deep in my thought, and that happens just too often. When I finally bothered to look up; there was a tall skinny girl at the front of the class. She had bleached her hair a very pale blonde. Her mouth was smiling at me but her eyes seemed to stare coldly through me, like if she was blind. But, she could clearly see perfectly well.

"Could you sit at the front next to Izzy please?" Miss Kanoh continued, looking at the new girl and pointing at an empty seat.

She sat down quite a few rows in front of me; I was right at the back.

She didn't seem to talk much. Just by looking I could tell that Izzy was trying to make conversation with her. But Izzy had the worst people skills ever. I felt a bit sorry for Hitomi, having to sit next to her, she wasn't a very nice girl. She was two-faced and her family was a bit on the dodgy side too. Just 2 years ago her uncle was convicted of murder! Murder! And I'm the one who caught him too! People used to frown on the fact that I was a detective at such a young age, but I'm the one who arrested the serial killer that was scaring them half to death. And the other officers that I worked with always called me a 'brat' and doubted me because I was female. I did the job that none of them could do!

"Naoto Shirogane!" I jumped and realised I was still at school, I was daydreaming again.

"Yes sensei?" I said, looking up at Miss Kanoh who was staring at me with a frown on her face.

"You always have your head in the clouds! No one would think you're a detective!"She said briskly.

I scowled right back at her. How dare she say things like that to me, especially in front of the whole class!

"Anyway, as I was saying, do you know the answer to this?" She pointed at the blackboard, looking straight at me.

"Of course," I said, looking up at the board myself.

I didn't know the answer. I guess listening really does pay off. I could feel my face heating up. I looked around and everyone was staring. Miss Kanoh still looked at me expectantly. She seemed to be enjoying this seeing as it was usually the students who humiliated her, not the other way around. I kept thinking and thinking but no matter how hard I thought, the answer wasn't there. It was like as it someone had ripped it out of my mind. Just a blank space left. I couldn't even think of one that would come close.

"Ha! That was so funny in English when you didn't know the answer and everyone was staring at you." Izzy said smiling away.

This annoyed me immensely. She always did things like that to annoy me.

"Yeah, rub it in, Izzy." I snapped, elbowing her in the ribs.

She just laughed. The funny thing about it was, we hated each other, we both knew that, but for some strange reason, we were still best friends. Kanji walked over from his classroom.

"Hey, how was your holiday?" He asked it like he hadn't seen me in weeks, when actually I spent most of my time with him.

"Ugh, it was terrible, I went to America with my family, and it was our first time abroad, big mistake..." Izzy carried on rambling like that in the background while I watched Hitomi on the other side of the hall.

She was just standing there, not looking at anyone, lifeless. It was like as if someone had switched her off.

"Hey, what's wrong with Hitomi?" I asked the other two, completely butting into Izzy's rambling about Disneyworld.

"I bet it's not as good as the one here." said Kanji with a smirk on his face.

They continued their conversation as if I hadn't even spoken. That was odd. I walked towards Hitomi, and she was still staring ahead.

"H-hello?" I said, waving my hand in front of her face. She blinked and shook her head.

"Oh! I didn't see you there." She smiled and scratched the back of her head.

"You've been standing there staring into space for a while now."

"It was just a daydream."

"Right, okay." I said.

I'd never seen a 'daydream' like that before, she looked dead while she was standing there, eyes glazed. I looked around.

"So, made any friends yet?" I asked politely, she seemed alone and I felt sorry for her.

"Not yet. I haven't really been trying. I've got a lot going on at the moment."

"Oh okay. So err... how about you come and sit with us?" Whether she had been trying or not, she needed company.

"Sure! That'll be cool!" I was startled at the sudden outburst, and a little freaked out. I'm sure Grandpa heard her she was that loud.

"He he, okay, let's go up to the roof." I looked around for Izzy and Kanji; they were nowhere to be seen. They must've gone up to the roof to wait for me.

"Where did you go?" Asked Kanji as me and Hitomi walked towards them.

"I went to see if Hitomi was alright. Anyway, I did tell you, but you were too busy comparing theme parks with Izzy." Kanji frowned. Izzy looked up from her bento box and glared at Hitomi.

"So, what was wrong with her?" She snapped. I raised an eyebrow. Earlier in class Izzy was trying to make friends with her, and now she was pushing her away.

"Nothing, but I said she can hang out with us. Is that all right with you?" I snapped back.

Izzy rolled her eyes and then nodded. She's so moody. We chatted and ate our lunch until it was class again. Me, Izzy and Hitomi went said bye to Kanji and went to class. We had history next, my best subject.

I sat down at my desk and got my books out of my bag. I had extra space because the guy who sat next to me was off sick. Ms. Sofue walked in with her Elizabethan wig balanced on the top of her head. She looked so stupid. She wore something new every year to do with history. It was her obsession. Last year it was a tin helmet and the year before that it was an Egyptian headdress. I could hear giggling coming from the front of the room, it was Hitomi; she wasn't used to it so of course she'd laugh. I did when I first transferred to Yasogami High. Ms. Sofue looked confused she obviously still hadn't caught on that whenever someone new came to the school, they'd laugh. I couldn't actually believe that she walked around like that. Eventually everyone quietened down eventually and Ms. Sofue wrote 'IZANAGI & IZANAMI' in big letters on the board. I rolled my eyes, I already knew about these two alright. We learnt about them when we had a trip to Gekkoukan High 2 years ago. And with the whole murder case too, Izanami was the one who started it all, in a way.

Although this was my favourite subject, I couldn't help but let my mind wander. I thought about all the good times we had before the others left and went to college. I missed them so much. Even Yukiko left in the end. Her family decided that they had a few years left in them to take care of the inn themselves, and maybe the job would be passed onto her little sister. She went to Tokyo with Souji to study. Chie didn't like that so they didn't really talk to each other anymore. And she was probably jealous because while Yukiko was happy, she had a long distance relationship with Kou, who went to England to study. Yosuke was doing pretty good, and he was studying in Okina so he came back to Inaba to visit me, Kanji and Izzy sometimes. Rise and Teddy went touring around the world after Rise returned to her career in showbiz. They never stopped travelling I'd only see them once a month, if that. But I was glad that they were happy, even if I was stuck in that god-forsaken place.

Class ended, and everyone poured out of the classrooms. Izzy needed to go to her locker to get her guitar because music club was off due to most people forgetting their instruments, so Hitomi and I went with her seeing as me and Izzy always walked home together. Kanji came over to us.

"Hey, are we doing anything today?" He asked happily.

"As long as it doesn't involve sitting around the food court like rag dolls, that's so boring." She was right; it was never the same since the others left.

"We can all come to my house if you like; I mean I don't have to ask for permission anymore." I said. Ouch. I'd reminded myself of how lonely my time at home was now. Nice move Naoto.

"Sure." Izzy said happily. Wow, she had some emotion. I looked at Hitomi, I suppose she didn't know what to do, or if she was invited or not.

"You can come too if you like. We can get to know each other a bit better." I said smiling at her. She smiled back and nodded.


	2. It was written in blood

Chapter Two: It was written in blood.

IZZY'S POV.

I said goodbye to my Mum and left for Naoto's house. She didn't live that far away, and we always walked to and from school together. I was glad that we had put the past behind us and were finally friends. We were very different though. She was rich, and came from a noble family. I was pretty much the opposite. But that didn't get between us. Kanji was very different from her too. Not long ago people thought of him as a violent criminal, but he meant well. Most of it was the media twisting everything around, along with rumours at school.

I finally reached Naoto's front gate, but something was wrong. There were police cars, a lot of police cars. The gate was open; I walked through towards the front door. I walked straight into an arm stretched out in front of me.

"I'm sorry, Izzy, but no one's allowed in at the moment." I looked up to find Ryotaro Dojima standing there; he was a detective that worked with my uncle and Naoto, my family had known him for years.

"Why? What's happened?" I asked, getting more and more worried by the minute.

"Well, I'll tell you seeing as I know you're Naoto's friend. She was reported missing this morning; no one has seen her since last night."

I began to feel sick, my stomach tightened. And my eyesight blurred slightly. I was with her last night, if I'd have stayed at her house for longer she might not have disappeared. I felt guilty, as if I was the one who had kidnapped her, that is if she was kidnapped, much worse could have happened. The best option is that she could have run away.

"So, I'm not allowed to go inside then?" I asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. We need to investigate what happened here, you'd better head off to school or you'll be late." I looked down; I didn't know how I could possibly go to school when my friend has vanished off the face of the earth!

"Do you have any idea how she disappeared?"I said, my voice going strangely high.

"We're investigating now! We may or may not have found valuable clues and we may or may not have an idea on what has happened. We don't know who the culprit is but until then, scram! I don't want any of you kids meddling in our affairs again." He snapped.

Dojima had always had a short temper. Was this going to be another case like before? Last time when Mayumi Yamano, the first victim, disappeared it was just like this. No one had any idea of what was going on. It turned out that my uncle had sent her to another world by pushing her into the TV. But of course no one believed that. That's why it was up to Naoto and the others to solve the crime. I wasn't a part of that though. I was on the other side. I'd always known that it was my uncle. And he knew I knew. He even asked me assist him with the kidnappings sometimes. But thank god that the few I assisted him with were saved. This time I wanted to be on the right side and I was going to get to the bottom of it.

I couldn't concentrate during class, every time I tried to think about something else somehow it would always lead back to the disappearance of Naoto. I still hadn't even told anyone, not even Kanji. I hadn't had a chance too. When I arrived I was late as it is. I couldn't even tell Hitomi who was supposed to be sitting next to me because she was absent. Maybe something could've happened to her too? I was really worried and it wasn't like me to worry. All of a sudden there was an announcement about an assembly and we had to all make our way there.

As I was walking I thought about the day that we all found out that Saki had died. The silence in the hall, and the morbid feeling; it was going to be like that today, even if Naoto was alive. I finally got to the hall. I looked around, I couldn't see Kanji anywhere. What if all 3 of them had disappeared? No, I was being stupid; they were probably all just playing a trick on me, because they never liked me that much anyway. And of course they were playing a trick on the police too otherwise they wouldn't be outside Naoto's house... Why was I telling myself that? It was obvious what had happened. They weren't safe. I looked up, Kanji was standing there. Well, at least he was safe.

"Where have you been?" I asked, relieved.

"In class, I was looking for you and the others but you're not with them. Has something happened between you and Naoto again?" Just as I opened my mouth to speak, the headmaster made a coughing noise and everyone in the hall quietened down.

It was true, it was really true. I couldn't believe it. All this time I was still trying to deny it, but even now, everyone at school knew. Kanji was sent home early, not by his choice though. It was because he went mental. That's his way of being upset I suppose. Sometimes people laugh to hid the pain, or because they are so nervous. But it wasn't like that for me, I held it all inside, so it could eat me up. It wasn't healthy, but I couldn't exactly talk to someone about it.  
After I finished at school, I went to the textile shop, which Kanji's mother ran, to see Kanji.

"Excuse me, Mrs Tatsumi?" She looked up at me and smiled.

"Yes, miss?"

"Is Kanji home?" I asked, in my polite I'm trying to act all sweet voice.

"Oh, no, he never returned from school, he should be home any minute." She said, looking at her watch. She obviously didn't know that Kanji came home early.

"Ok, thanks anyway." I said and walked out of the shop. I knew exactly where he'd be, Naoto's house.

"Oh come on! I think I have a right to know!" That was the voice I heard as I walked toward the Shirogane Estate, loud and booming, it was definitely Kanji. And my guess was that he was talking to Detective Dojima.

"No, this area is closed off! Now, I'd appreciate it if you left!" Yep, it was Dojima. At this rate, Kanji was going to be arrested. I walked into the gates to see them both at each other's throats.

"I will put you under arrest if you carry on!" Dojima shouted.

"Well go on then, it's not like it ain't happened before!" Kanji yelled back louder. I just looked at them both. I wondered if diverting Kanji away from the crime scene would put my life in danger.

"Kanji, maybe we should just leave it to them and go home." I said in a little mousy voice.

"Oh? What? Like we could've done last time? I'd be dead!" I just frowned at him. How was I going to get him to leave?

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Dojima snapped. This was getting on my last nerve.

"Kanji listen! If you just stand here all day arguing with Dojima, we're not going to find out and neither is he! We should think about this properly elsewhere. It's not like Naoto's still in the house, is it?" I shouted. Hopefully that got his attention.

"Fine! But you better tell us if you find anything out, Detective." He snapped. We both went to the food court to talk it over.

"I think it's Hitomi" I said quickly as we sat down. Kanji just laughed in response. "I'm being serious! She was the last one to leave Naoto's house last night."

"And how am I supposed to know that?" He said with a smug smile on his face

"Because I left before her."

"Izzy, do you expect me to trust you after what happened? You're lucky you're not in prison for not telling the police you knew it was Adachi who was the murderer last time."

"But he was my uncle; of course I'm going to protect my family." I said, feeling a little hurt.

"So you protected you family, while everyone else kept disappearing smooth move." I just frowned at him; I couldn't believe he was being so insensitive.

"Anyway, back to Naoto. I was obviously the one who left first last night so I don't know a thing. What makes Hitomi so suspicious anyways?" He asked, still not believing me.

"I just don't like her." I mumbled. I didn't care whether Kanji believed me or not, I thought Hitomi was very suspicious, especially after what she said in class yesterday:

"_So you're not a Shinto?" She asked surprised.  
"No, I don't believe in all that."  
"Not even Buddhism?" She asked, as if I asked her to guess another religion.  
"No, I'm not religious." I said, getting irritated.  
"Oh my god! That's really unusual. So you don't believe in gods at all?" Hitomi said it as if it was a crime.  
"No. I thought I made that clear." I snapped.  
"Not even the gods that are used as Personas?" She asked, smiling._

It had shocked the life out of me when she said that. I thought that I was the only person who didn't actually have a persona that knew about it; apart from Taro Namatame, obviously. But then again, what if she did have a persona? Where would she have had the chance to get it? I told Kanji about this and surprising, he seemed to half-believe me.

"Seriously? Did she say anything else about if afterwards?"

"Not a word." I said, proud that I had finally said something of relevance. Kanji frowned.

"Then why didn't you ask her?" He snapped at me.

"There wasn't a chance to, not long after that, class ended." He seemed unconvinced. But either way, we said out goodbyes and went home, I'd had enough of talking about it, and I'm sure he felt the same.

I got home and ran upstairs straight away; I wasn't in the mood to talk to my half-wit family. But to my discontent, as soon as I shut the door f my room behind me it opened again. It was my mum, bearing a freaky resemblance to her homicidal brother. "

This came in the post for you." She said holding an envelope out to me, I took it.

"Thanks." She turned around to go out the door and as she was walking down the stairs she shouted:

"Make sure you're down in 5 minutes, I'm dishing up dinner." I nodded, even though she couldn't actually see me and sat down on my bed. I looked at the envelope; my name and address were written in neat, precise handwriting. I opened it to find the contents were entirely different. There was a picture of Naoto, which I dropped straight away. It shocked me so much I began to feel sick. I picked it up again and looked at it. She looked scared, and was crying, it was only of her head and shoulders. I could see hand marks around her throat, and bruises on her face. It made me cry. This was much worse than last time. I turned the photo over, and there was a note written in blood:

'_We have your friend. In a place you know oh so well. But it's dangerous here now, more than you've ever known. Better call for back-up.'_

Better call for back-up? It was as if they wanted everyone to come back and help us get her back, but why? I knew one thing. I was completely useless; I couldn't do anything to help her now.

"Izzy come on, your dinner will get cold!" My mum's voice shouting from downstairs jumped me.

"I'm not really hungry right now!" I shouted back.

"Izzy, don't waste the good food I've cooked you! Come down here and eat now otherwise I'll come and get you myself!" She shouted, I knew she was getting angry, she had a short fuse.

"Fine, I'll be down in a sec!" I yelled back. Just as I was walking towards my door, I got a text, it was from Kanji. It only contained 2 words: _'Midnight Channel.'_


	3. Shed Light

**(Sorry this chapter isn't really that good 'cause I had block, but seriously don't stop reading! It's gonna get better starting from chapter 4.)  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

Chapter 3: Shed light  
KANJI'S POV

She was there. I could see her. It was just like last time, only this time, I could see that she was in pain. This angered me. I had been trapped there once before, but it was nothing like she was going through right now. She sat there, hugging her knees, with her head down. I couldn't even tell if she was still conscious. I punched the TV, forgetting about my powers, and nearly fell right through it.

"Just as well or Ma would've killed me." I said to myself, regaining my balance. I broke enough lamps and things, let alone TVs. I sat down on my bed and thought of what I should do 'til my head hurt. I knew one thing for certain, I needed Teddie, or once I went in to get Naoto, I wouldn't be able to get out. I tried calling him, but his phone was off. He must've been asleep. I decided that I should call him in the morning, worrying about it now wasn't going to change anything.

I didn't get much sleep at all, and I doubt Izzy did either. I got up and started getting ready for school. Wednesday, the worst day of the week, it's usually raining and I find myself with nothing to do. Then it hit me, I was supposed to call Teddie. I couldn't believe that I forgot a thing that important! I got my phone off of my bedside table.

"Hello?" Said the voice on the other side of the line, wow, I forgot how high his voice was.

"Hi Teddie, its Kanji, have you heard?" I asked, I felt weird talking to him, I usually avoided it, and I'd always felt awkward around him ever since the incident at Tatsumi Port Island.

"Heard what?" He replied. I sighed.  
"It's Naoto. She's been kidnapped." I didn't like the silence that followed my sentence, Teddie was never silent. I kind of expected him to scream down the phone like: _'OH NO! What do we do!?' _But no, I was met with silence.

"Teddie?" I said, uneasily. It was like as if he wasn't there anymore.

"OH NO! What do I do?" He answered, finally. Well, it was close enough to what I thought he'd say.

"I don't know." I replied. "But I know she's definitely in the TV, and I can't go in there without you, Teddie." Again there was silence. Maybe Teddie had developed a habit of hesitating for a while before he spoke. "Teddie!? Seriously, can you stop doing that; it's getting right on my nerves."

"Sorry, Kanji, I just don't know what to do." I was seriously getting angry at this kid. He was acting as if it was just a stranger that had been kidnapped. Why was he so different? He'd usually been all over the place.

"What do you think you have to do? Get your ass down here NOW!" I yelled.

"B-but Kanji, it's not that simple."

"Why? Why isn't it that simple?" I asked, with a sarcastic tone in my voice.

"Rise's mid-tour at the moment, and we're far away and it's not like I can just-"He started in a nervous little voice.

"LEAVE!? So what? It's not like you're the one going on stage or anything."

"I'm here for moral support, and when I'm in my bear suit, I'm Rise's mascot." He said that in a cheery voice as if everything was fine and dandy. If I could've put my hand through the phone and punched him right there and then I would've.

"I think you're forgetting! Naoto's in danger! This whole conversation has annoyed me. Ya know what? Come or don't come. Either way, I'm going into that TV and rescuing her _today!_" I shouted quickly and put the phone down. I was so angry I threw it across the room and it hit the wall and fell in pieces on the floor. Great, I had no communication with anybody outside Inaba whatsoever.

Well, one thing was for sure. I was screwed. I put my hand in my pocket to call Izzy, and then I remembered that I had just broken my phone. I was such a numb nut. I had to talk to her at school. This was great seeing as I was planning to save Naoto instead of even going there. And I was late, so I had to wait until after class to talk to her. That was peachy. I grabbed my bag and walked to school, there was no point rushing if I was going to be late either way.

Finally, class was over. And like always, I couldn't focus. But this time it wasn't just the fact that I didn't understand the work properly that wasn't what was bothering me this time. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see Naoto sitting there, hunched up, in the TV. That picture that the kidnapper sent to me kept appearing in my head too. This was too much for me to deal with. I went to Izzy's classroom; she was still in there, so I waited outside. People kept looking at me with these sympathetic faces because Naoto were so close and she'd gone missing.

"What the hell are you looking at!?" I shouted. Anger always got the better of me. No one really said anything back. Some people whispered to their friends and some just hurried off. I didn't care though.

"So, did you talk to Teddie?" Asked Izzy as she walked out of the classroom, Hitomi walked out behind her. I felt like we couldn't talk about Teddie in front of Hitomi but Izzy had openly asked.

"How did you know I called Teddie?"

"I don't, that's why I'm asking. Do me a favour, Hitomi, do you think you could get my coat from my locker?" Said Izzy; handing her locker keys to Hitomi, who just nodded and walked off.

"I did, but he's probably not coming. And good move getting Hitomi away, but she won't be gone for long." I said, her reason of sending Hitomi away was probably different from mine though.

"She doesn't know where my locker is. And why isn't Teddie coming?"

"Err, yes she does, she went with you the other day. And he's just being awkward, so we're going in without him." I said. I felt proud that I had outsmarted Izzy, who was a hell of a lot cleverer than me.

"Shut up Kanji. She freaks me out either way. Let's just talk about the important things. I don't know if you forgot, but I don't have a Persona. If we go in there, it would probably be worse than you going in on your own. Also, my shadow could come out any minute." She was right, I did forget about that. But what I didn't understand was, the world changed before my eyes from a place riddled with shadows to what appeared to be a more beautiful version of my own world. Yet, the note that I got last night said how it had become more dangerous. That's what I forgot, the note!

"Izzy, last night did you get a note from the kidnapper?"

"-And a picture of Naoto. It scared me." She replied. For once, she did seem genuinely scared.

"I'm going into the TV today, from the food court, if I'm not back by tomorrow morning; tell Ma that I've gone on a school trip." I was determined to rescue Naoto, even if it got me hurt. Hey, that sounded good. What was I saying? It was stupid to think about sounding good.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you whenever 'cause Hitomi's coming over now. Oh! And good luck." Izzy said, giving me a friendly smile. Wow, a smile.

"See you." I said, waving as I turned toward the staircase. Firstly, I had to get home to prepare myself. Hopefully I still had some of the gear I used back when we were investigating the murder case. It was probably lying around _somewhere._

I was ready to go. I'd finally found everything. I looked at my watch; it was 5:30pm. I was running a bit later than I expected. But I still had enough time to get up there before Junes closed. I decided to take a bus instead of walking because it was a lot quicker and I was pretty tired 'cause of the lack of sleep I had last night. I paid my fare and sat down. There was a girl with a dark silvery coloured hair on the other side of the aisle who kept staring at me, she reminded me of someone, but I couldn't remember who it was. Shame really, it was on the tip of my tongue. I got off at Junes, and so did that freaky girl. But luckily she didn't follow me to the electronics department. I finally got there. It was empty. I stood there, in front of the TV, and couldn't help but hesitate. I was scared.

"No, Kanji Tatsumi is never scared." I said to myself, before jumping head first into the TV. This was it. And there was no going back.

Crack! I landed, and I wasn't graceful about it. My head felt like it was going to explode. I was dizzy, I couldn't see properly, that was the worst landing I'd had ever. I got up, although it took me a while, and got to my feet. I looked around. This was not the TV world I knew. There was no freaky fogged up TV-studio. But there wasn't a field of flowers with a lake either.

It was a small village, surrounded by a jungle. It was quite dark and gloomy, like as if the sun had already set, but it wasn't dark enough for it to be classed as night. All of the houses were on stilts, and had ladders leading up to them. It was funny to think of those short stubby animals trying to climb them. There were walls around it, the gates were open, but they had big heavy locks for protection when they closed. I wondered why.

"What the hell?" I said to myself. When did this happen? The village weren't inhabited by people either. It was a load of animals. But they didn't look like your average animals. They looked like big costumes. Like Teddie's bear suit, but not all of them were bears. I was so confused. Naoto could've been anywhere. I walked towards a shadow-rabbit thing that seemed to be waving at me.

"Hello!" It said, in a small squeaky voice. I felt so dumb, it was like a Disney film.

"...Hi. Could you tell me where I am? And why are all you ...shadows animals now?" I asked it. I still felt stupid.

"Ahem! We prefer being called illusions created by light." The stupid fluff ball didn't answer my question. I walked towards the gate; it was obvious I weren't going to find Naoto here.

"No! You can't go out there!" It called after me. I laughed; I'd dealt with this world before, so what if most of the shadows were like Teddie now? That left me with less to eliminate.

"Watch me!" I called back, running out of the gate and into the wilderness. That stupid ball of stuffing weren't going to stop me. As I was walking along what appeared to be a poorly made path, I felt something grab my arm. I knew what it was straight away. I turned around, and looked down.

"Why are you bothering me?" I asked.

"You'll get killed! The shadows will get you!" It screamed. I rolled my eyes.

"You're a shadow! And anyway, I'm perfectly equipped to fight them." I snapped, pulling away from its grip and walking off. I heard those footsteps behind me again. Obviously I didn't make myself clear.

"I'm Bunnie, what's your name?"How ironic. I met a bear called Teddie and now a rabbit called Bunnie.

"I'm Kanji, but you won't need to use that name often because I'm still going." I said coldly. It ran in front of me so I stopped.

"Okay, but I better accompany you, just in case." It seems that today was one of those days where I kept getting annoyed. Because this rabbit was seriously testing my patience, well, what was left of it.

"Y'know what? I seriously don't know why you're following me. I don't need any help. I've come to this world plenty of times and I was fine without the likes of you!" I said pushing past it.

"What about Teddie?" I stopped. How did it know that?

"How do you know about him?" I asked.

"He was like me once, and he helped you. Now let me help you, please!" It cried. Once again, it didn't answer my question. Even if it did come with me to find Naoto, it'd be dead by tomorrow, shadows or no shadows.

"Why do you want to follow me anyway?"

"I feel like I know you, maybe we've met before."

"Ha, I doubt that." I laughed. Finally, I agreed to let it follow me. I didn't even know what I was going to find in this place. But I knew one thing; I wasn't going home for a while.


End file.
